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Ames High to add two data‑driven intervention courses focused on literacy and math
Summary
Board approved two semester-long, credit-bearing intervention courses at Ames High School designed to use screening and course data to identify students who need extra support in literacy and mathematics. Staff said no additional staffing or curriculum purchases are requested for the initial rollout.
Ames — The Ames Community School District Board approved two new intervention courses at Ames High School that the district described as data-driven, semester-long supports for students who need targeted skill building in literacy or mathematics.
Associate Superintendent (presenting) told the board the two courses are titled Foundations of Literacy, Reading and Writing and Mathematical Reasoning, Quantitative Foundations. Both would use screening assessments (the district's screening tools and ISES) and course-level data to identify students for placement and to track progress. The courses are intended as interventions that last at least one semester; once a student's data shows they no longer require the intervention, the student would be removed and would retain credit for the course.
"The idea would be to use the assessment data, identify the students, pull them into, at a minimum, a semester long intervention in order to build their skills," the Associate Superintendent said during the meeting.
Board members asked whether the courses would require additional staff or curriculum purchases. The district said no new positions are requested and no additional curriculum purchases have been requested for this initial implementation; existing MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) staff and instructional coaches will provide the support.
Administrators clarified that the courses are intended as skill-building interventions rather than credit recovery. A board member asked whether students could be moved into the class midsemester if they were identified as needing support; district staff said that while assessment data would allow mid-semester identification, credit-issuance logistics make mid-semester entry unlikely in the initial iteration.
The board approved the course additions by voice vote, recorded as 6–0.
What happens next District staff said they will schedule the courses, publish enrollment criteria and monitor initial outcomes. The high school will use existing MTSS staffing to run the sections and will report initial enrollment and outcome data after the first semester.
